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Overall Page MenuProductivity (writing tools, presentation, etc.)
ProductivityStar Office for Windows 95/98/NT (go to Sun) Star Office is a complete office productivity package, including word processing, database, spreadsheet, etc. And it is completely free. Requires about 150 meg space free on your hard drive for installation. The compressed file is about 70 meg. You will need to download the main program as well as the database. ThinkFree Office (go to ThinkFree) ThinkFree is "anywhere, anytime computing." The program includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, file manager, secure Internet file storage and the ability to work online or offline. It is Microsoft Office compatible and maintains the basic look and feel of Office. After you install this program you will need to sign up with ThinkFree. There is no cost and you get space on the Internet to store you materials, so you can access your work from a variety of locations. The compressed file is about 12 meg.ThinkFree Office for Windows Word Perfect 3.5 for Macintosh (go to Corel) Word Perfect 3.5 is a complete, full featured word processor for Macintosh. And it is completely free. You will want to read the manual to learn all the features. CWordPad (go to Cetus Software) An enhanced replacement for Windows 95 WordPad. Includes a spell checker and a thesaurus. A great, free writing aid. Sentence Starters for Macintosh (go to TSSoftware) Click on the EArly REading/Writing software link to go to the download section with sentence starters. Then look for other stuff on this site.
Information OrganizationInspiration K-12 (go to Inspiration) An information organization and mind mapping program for students from kindergarten through high school. There are two versions available. One is Kidspiration and the other is Inspiration. A 30 day, fully functional demo version is available for both programs, for Windows and Macintosh. Be sure to check out the different templates that come with the program. Below are some examples of materials for Inspiration. Mind Manager (go to MindJet) Another great mind mapping program. This is a 21 day fully functioning demo, but with limited symbols and no spell checker or tutorial. Timeliner (go to Tom Snyder Productions) For grades K-12. Students can do historic time lines. Demo version. MORE This is a great outline/writing program for the Macintosh. It is no longer being supported and the company granted permission to share this version. One of my favorite programs for the Mac.MORE for Macintosh Action Outline for Windows (go to GPSoft) Action Outline Light is a free, ad-supported, outline program. There is also a commercial version called Action Outline. You can download a 30 day trial of the commercial version. Golden Section Organizer & Notes for Windows (go to Golden Section Labs) GoldenSection Notes is a basic electronic notebook for storing text and graphics. It's free. GoldenSection Organizer is a personal information manager. You can download an evaluation copy. Personal Journal for Macintosh (go to Shaffer) Personal Journal is a basic writing program to help organize notes and daily writings. StoryProject for Macintosh (go to StoryProject) A professional shareware story development tool for playwrights and screenwriters. PuppetTime Producer for Macintosh (go to PuppetTime) An interesting way to help students tell a story or report. The students choose characters, type in dialog, record speech and select animation actions. Has a lot of possibility for student created anchored instruction activities.
MathGeoBoard (go to Edmark) An electronic geoboard "computer" that allows students to create geometric designs and compute area and perimeter. Jungle Chess (go to Edmark) A great game of strategy. Encourages the development of thinking skills as well as counting skills. Super graphics.Jungle Chess for Macintosh Jelly Bean Hunt (go to Edmark) For grades Prek-2, direct an ant to some Jelly Beans.Jelly Bean Hunt for Windows Fripple Cookies (go to Edmark) For grades K-3, decorate cookies and practice sequencing skillsFripple Cookies for Windows Neighborhood Map Machine (go to Tom Snyder Productions) For grades 1-5. Have fun working on spatial skills while creating digital versions of your neighborhood. Demo version of Tom Snyder's Neighborhood Map Machine. Fripple Place (go to Edmark) For grades 3-8, have fun with logic puzzles.Fripple Place for Windows Calculator Collection (go to Edmark) For grades 3-6, a great collection of calculators, including fractions and money.Calculator Collection for Windows Algebra Calculator (go to Edmark) For grades 7-9, a great help in solving algebra problems.Algebra Calculator for Windows Arty's Calculator for Macintosh & Windows (go to ArtyAstro) This is a unit conversion calculator that is bright and colorful. To get to it you have to go to ArtyAstro, then Enter, and then just deal with each screen as it comes up. Eventually you should get to the Navigator Welcome site that includes a link for Fun Stuff. The calculator is in the Fun Stuff. Geometer's SketchPad (go to Key Curriculum Press) A visualization program that helps students learn geometric concepts. Includes a basic workshop. Isoptikon for Windows A program for learning Euclidean Geometry.Isoptikon for Windows Object Newton for Macintosh (go to download.com) This is a fractal exploration program. Go to the download.com site, make sure you are in the Mac section, and do a search on Object Newton. Carbon Fractal for Macintosh (go to physoft) Another fractal exploration program for the Macintosh. These are great if you want to discuss Chaos theory with your students. SysQuake for Macintosh & Windows (go to Calerga) Math and physics visualization software. There is a free version and a commercial version. YP Math Visualization Software for Macintosh (go to Pelletier) There is a variety of software programs to try out here, including a simple pendulum, magnetic force, and others.
Reading/Text to SpeechLetter Machine (go to Edmark) For grades Prek-2, learn letters the fun way.Letter Machine for Windows Timmy in Argentina (go to Edmark) For grades K-3, Timmy helps students to learn about different cultures. This is a small part of the program released by the company. Timmy in Japan (go to Edmark) More fun from Timmy.Timmy/Japan for Windows Scan 'N Read for Macintosh (go to Accessible Dreams) A great program for making switch scanning books with speech output. Can be controlled by a mouse or a single switch.Scan 'N Read for Macintosh KidBook for Macintosh (go to Switch In Time) A great program for making electronic books with moving highlighting and spoken words. Can be controlled by a mouse or a single switch.KidBook for Macintosh OmniPage 10 for Windows (go to ScanSoft) This is the trial version of OmniPage for Windows, an excellent OCR program. OmniPage is also available for Macintosh but not in a trial version. A really cool feature of the Windows version is that it will read out loud text that has been scanned in.OmniPage 10 for Windows CAST eReader (go to CAST) CAST eReader is one of the best text readers available. It has a lot of features, including the ability to become a talking web browser. If you are connected to the Internet, you can type in a URL and the page will open up in eReader, where you can then use the software to read the page. Trials version for Windows and Mac are available at the CAST web site. ReadPlease 2000 (Windows 95/98, go to ReadPlease) ReadPlease 2000 is a free text to speech program. It will read text files and emails. It has four voice choices, has a few choices on contrast between text and background, and the text size can be adjusted. This is a great free text to speech program. Talk-to-Me (Windows 95/98, go to Cantrell Software) A fun program that will read e-mail, documents, and anything you copy to the clipboard. It comes with a Merlin talking character. You can choose a different character, such as the parrot Peedy, if you download it and install it. Shareware ($24.95) WillowTalk (Windows 95/98, go to Willow Pond) Reads webpages, Word documents, spreadsheets, email, and more. It can create plays with different voices reading different parts. 30 day trial version, $29.95 to register. Talking Box (Windows 95/98, go to MindBeat) A free utility that will read any text copied to the clipboard. It can also be used to announce the time and date, as well as custom reminders. Alladdin's Reading Lamp (go to Win Software) HELP Read (freeware from HelpRead) Speak Lite (Windows 95/98, go to ShadiSoft) A text to speech program that uses the Microsoft Agent characters to read documents, webpages, and text copied to the clip board. Shareware, registration is $13.99. Talking File for Macintosh (go to Jade's End Software) Talking File lets you create a file that will speak when you double click on the icon. Text Edit Plus for Macintosh (go to Trans-Tex Software) Text Edit Plus has speech output features similar to SimpleText, which comes free with all Macs. However, Text Edit Plus does include a lot of great text editing and formatting features, and is great for taking text files, such as the ones you can download from the Gutenberg Project, and reformatting the files to work well with a variety of text to speech programs. This can be real handy if you are dealing with PC and Mac text files. QuickText for Macintosh (go to MaxPower Software) QuickText is another word processor with basic text to speech capabilities. Kind of like SimpleText with several additional features. Type Talker (go to Kohshin Graphic Systems) Type Talker is a talking word processor for the Macintosh. One of the neat features of this software is the ability to assign different voices to letters, words, and sentences. ySpeak (PPC Macintosh, go to StazSoftware) A talking word processor with basic word prediction support. As you type, the program keeps a running list of words to the side, based on a dictionary. Helpful for students with problems spelling.
ScienceKinetics Lab (go to Edmark) For grades 4-7, science experiments by putting balls in motion on a customizable metal surface.Kinetics Lab for Windows Virtual Labs (go to Edmark) For grades 6-12, science experiments with virtual electricity.Virtual Labs for Windows Greatest Paper Airplanes (go to KittyHawk) A fun demo of how to make paper airplanes. Great science project. Really cool. Fantastic Voyage for Macintosh (go to download.com) A simple graphics, human body exploration game for young students. You will need to go to download.com, make sure you are in the Mac section, and then do a search on Fantastic Voyage. Earth Browser (go to Lunar Software) Ultra cool science software. You get a 3-D view of the earth that can be rotated. It show cloud formations, volcanoes, and other environmental activity. And it actually updates itself during the day. You can also pick an area on the planet and zoom in. Registration for the downloaded version is $19.95. The Intel Play QX3 Computer Microscope (go to IntelPlay) The Intel Play QX3 Computer Microscope has magnifications of 10x, 60x and 200x and attaches to a computer via a USB port. There are two programs that give a demonstration of how the microscope could be used.
Audio/MusicSmartSound (go to Sonic Desktop) A really easy program for making music. Great for students to use to create background music for plays or song writing activities. This demo version has a limited amount of music clips available to work with. Music Mouse for Macintosh (go to Laurie Spiegel) Music Mouse is a different way to create music. Just choose the settings and move the mouse. This is the trial version. CoolEdit 2000 for Windows (go to Syntrillium) CoolEdit 2000 is a very popular audio editing program. Audio editing programs are great for music editing, preparing sound clips for HyperStudio or Powerpoint presentations, or creating talking stories where you record someone reading a story and then insert sound effects to enhance the story. Lots of fun. Download a trial version and enjoy. GoldWave for Windows (go to Goldwave) GoldWave is another very popular audio editing program. Ditto for the things written about CoolEdit 2000. Tiny Recorder for Windows & Macintosh (go to Yamaha) Tiny Recorder is a basic wave form editor, designed for use by samplers. It can be used as a stand alone program. A unique feature is the addition of additional audio channels as you need them. Once you get to the Yamaha page, go to Product Specific Tools and look for Tiny Wave Editor for A3000. Total Recorder for Windows( go to High Criteria) Total Recorder will save any sounds or music your Windows system plays. Like AIFF Writer for Macs, this is an auditory "screen capture" utility. Shareware, costs about $12.00 to register. EasyBeat for Macintosh (go to Unisoft) EasyBeat is a music creation program that uses MIDI and Quicktime 3.x or higher. There are some neat examples on the web site. GrooveBuddy for Macintosh (go to Purple E Software) This is a desktop musical instrument and calculator. It includes a 15 instrument musical keyboard, 13 drum loops, and a sequencer for recording your compositions. Cubasis InWired for Windows (go to Steinberg) This is a full featured audio and MIDI recording studio for your computer. It provides up to 48 channels of audio, 64 channels of MIDI, a virtual synthesizer, a drum machine, and a bass module. Requires connection to the Internet to use. ACID XPress for Windows (go to Sonic Foundry) ACID is one of the coolests and easiest programs to use to create music, and this free version is a lot of fun. You use a pencil to "draw" where and when loops of music are to be played. There are eight free loops of music available each week at Acid Planet. WinAmp for Windows (go to WinAmp) WinAmp Lite for Windows (go to WinAmp) WinAmp Lite is a free program for playing MP3 files. This is a must have program. There are links below to a few examples of MP3 files available on the Internet. grayAMP for Macintosh (go to Digital Thoughts Inc) grayAMP is a MP3 player for the Mac. It requires the Appearance Manager control panel. Music JukeBox for Macintosh (go to MusicMatch) Sound Jam for Macintosh (go to Casady) Simple Sound Editor with Sound Clips for Macintosh This sound editor works best on early Mac LCs. The sound clips are aiff versions of the wave files below. AIFF Writer (try Mac Music for current version). An audio utility for Macintosh, AIFF Writer will save sounds played on a Mac to an AIFF file on the hard drive. Think of this as an auditory "screen capture" utility. Just drop in the system folder, and read the readme file. WAV Sound Files Applause . Band . Banjo . Bike Horn . Birds . Bugle . Car . Cat . Circus . Cow . Dog . Dropping . Drum . Ducks . Eagle . Elephant . Fire Truck . Laugh . Guitar . Harp . Heart Beat . Jaw Harp . Laugh2 . Lion . Owl . Race Car . Racing . Sheep . Splash . Steps . Tiger . Whip . Whistle Music Files (MP3s) Bluegrass - The "Chicken Reel" is a tune almost everyone is familiar with. It is included as a possible thematic component for a series of lessons based on one of the "Chicken Run" trailers in Ocean. The "Flag Station Fireball" is, I think, a great example of bluegrass.Chicken Reel by Jigz
Graphics/ArtMayura Draw (go to Mayura) A great drawing program for Windows systems. Costs about $15.00 to register. PhotoCube (go to TriVista) Something fun! Imports up to six images and creates a 3-D photo cube that you can print out and put together. The trail version leaves one side of the cube blank and has a limited number of sessions it will work. PhotoExplorer (go to ULead) You can use this free program to view photos, enhance or crop them, and create a quick slide show. Lots of fun. Graphic Converter (go to Lemke Software) Shareware image editing program for Macintosh. Includes an easy way to create a slide show. Make It Software (go to Owl & Mouse) These software programs print out 3-D objects that can be cut out and put together, like castles, farms, etc. For Windows only.Make a Town JASC PaintShop Pro for Windows (go to JASC) This is the trial version of a very popular image editing program for Windows. Painter Classic (go to Corel) Painter is a natural medium paint program that was sold by Metacreations and is now sold by Corel. The versions listed below are Painter Classic, which may or may not still be available. However, you will be able to see how a natural medium paint program works. This demo is fully functional but you cannot save or print. TypeStyler 3.x for Macintosh (go to Strider) If you have not tried the new TypeStyler you are in for a treat. This 60 day fully functional demo does incredible 3-D effects, bevels, glows, etc. It is really great and the tutorial will take you step by step through creating beautiful logos.
UtilitiesFlash It is a screen capture utility for Macintosh.
SnapzPro (go to www.ambrosiasw.com) A great screen capture program for Macintosh that lets you save as images (including jpeg or gif) or as movies, including audio. Tryout version works for 30 days then costs $40.00 to register. CaptureEzePro (go to www.screencapture.com) A great program for Windows is CaptureEzePro, a screen capture program that includes cool edge effects, image editing, and automatic print features. Tryout works for about 45 days, registration is $39.00. PDF Typer for Macintosh A utility that sets a .pdf file so that Macintosh will recognize it. Sometimes useful when downloading .pdf files that were created on a Windows machine.
GamesMudBall (go to Mattel Interactive) Great thinking skills game.Mudball for Macintosh
TutorialsComputer Basics Mark Sardo from CITE in Orlando has created some great handouts for customizing your computer, changing the appearance, working with audio, etc. While these materials were created to help teachers adapt computers for students with disabilities, they are also great for anyone who just wants to learn how to use their computer. Windows 95 part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | practice files
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